Traditionally, the establishment of cardiopulmonary bypass for circulating blood into a heart lung machine has required major surgical intervention. Venous cannula and cardiovascular catheters are normally utilized in draining the venous blood into the heart lung machine, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,903,895 and 4,248,224. Venous cannula must be located in or near the central venous circulation. To obtain sufficient venous return to achieve full cardiopulmonary bypass a major operation is required to place the cannula directly into the right atrium. This is normally done by performing a median sternotomy or thoracotomy to surgically expose the right atrium. Arterial return is normally through the aorta or femoral artery. Alternatively, the venous cannula can be introduced into surgically exposed femoral or jugular veins..sup.1 FNT Percutaneous cardiopulmonary bypass and innovations in clinical counterpulsation; S. J. Phillips, pp. 297-317, Critical Care Clinics, Vol. 2, No. 2, April, 1986.
Because the traditional establishment of full cardiopulmonary bypass requires major surgical intervention, partial supportive cardiopulmonary bypass through surgical exposure of the femoral artery and veins has been an accepted technique. However, this technique has not been achieved widespread popularity for emergency applications, because it still requires a skilled surgical team and is extremely difficult to perform in environments in which a patient is undergoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In such circumstances, percutaneous cannulation of the femoral artery and both femoral veins has been utilized..sup.2 Notwithstanding the advantages provided by such percutaneous cannulation, full bypass through this method has not been achieved. Moreover, percutaneous cannulation of the jugular veins has not been performed. FNT See, Percutaneous Initiation of Cardiopulmonary Bypass, Phillips, et al., The Annals of Thoractic Surgery, Vol. 36, No. 2, August, 1983, pp. 223-225.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a means and methods for percutaneous cannulation for initiation of full cardiopulmonary bypass without the need for a skilled surgical environment. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a venous cannula which can be percutaneously placed within the jugular veins as well as the femoral veins to achieve full bypass circulation as well as partial bypass, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as well as other situations where venous drainage might be necessary.